The present invention relates generally to transfer systems, and more specifically to a loading system for loading strip-like products such as sliced bacon onto a unidirectionally driven conveyor in evenly-spaced transverse rows. The system finds particular utility for loading bacon strips sliced from a bacon slab onto the endless conveyor of a bacon frying oven.
Bacon frying ovens of the type to which the present invention is particularly adapted employ a wide continuously moving conveyor belt on which bacon strips are arranged side-by-side in transverse rows. As the bacon strips progress through the oven a second continuously moving belt is brought down on top of the bacon slices. The two belts, with the bacon strips pressed flat inbetween, are driven between heated platens which simultaneously apply pressure and heat to fry the bacon strips. After the bacon strips have been fried the second belt is removed to enable the bacon strips to be removed from the conveyor belt.
For efficient operation of such bacon frying ovens it is necessary that the bacon strips be arranged to provide maximum utilization of the conveyor belt surface. That is, the bacom strips must not be so close together as to stick together during the frying operation, or so far apart as to cause large areas of the belts to be heated and pressed with no bacon strips therebetween. Accordingly, it has become standard practice to arrange the bacon strips lengthwise side-by-side in transverse rows extending across the entire width of the belt, the transverse rows being equally spaced along the entire length of the top surface of the conveyor belt. Furthermore, since the oven platens must necessarily be continuously heated and short term temperature changes are not practicable, it is highly desirable for consistent frying action that the fryer oven conveyor move continuously at a predetermined constant speed.
The need for loading and offloading bacon strips from the oven conveyor without interfering with the operational efficiency of the oven, or with the operating efficiency of up-line and down-line processing machinery utilized to process the bacon strips, has presented a need for loading and unloading systems capable of automatically handling the thin limp strips of bacon with a high degree of precision. The co-pending application of the present inventors, Ser. No. 447,354, filed Mar. 1, 1974 and assigned to the present assignee, is directed to a system meeting these criteria which is eminently well suited for unloading fried bacon slices from the oven conveyor, and the present application is directed to a system meeting these criteria for loading limp unfried bacon strips sliced from a bacon slab onto the conveyor. This system effectively coordinates the bacon slicing operation with the loading operation to achieve an efficient continuous loading of the oven, and to avoid the loading of partial or deformed bacon strips which would not be marketable, and therefore wasteful of valuable space on the oven conveyor.
Accordingly, it is a general object of the present invention to provide a new and improved loading system for arranging items side-by-side in equally spaced transverse rows on a continuously driven belt conveyor.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a new and improved loading system for loading bacon strips or slices onto the continuously moving conveyor of a bacon frying oven.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a new and improved loading system for transferring bacon strips from a serial or single file arrangement on a first conveyor belt to a side-by-side arrangement of transverse equally-spaced rows on a second continuously moving conveyor.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a new and improved system for slicing bacon strips from a bacon slab and for loading the bacon strips onto a continuously moving conveyor belt.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a new and improved system for slicing bacon strips from a bacon slab and for loading the bacon strips in uniformly spaced transverse rows onto the continuously moving conveyor belt of a bacon frying oven which provides less waste and which does not interfere with the efficiency of the oven.